Jar-sealing apparatus.



No. 789,692. PATENTED MAY 9, 1905. W. H. HONISS.

IAR SEALING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPTA. 1901.

,of A'- /f C) C TAM wif um ad 4 k U/z'tneesses.- Inventor.- QM/U MW No. 789,692.v

UNITED ,STATES Patented May 9, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. HONISS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- FOURTH TO HIMSELF, ONE-HALF TO BEECH-NUT PACKING COMPANY, OF CANAJOHARIE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK, AND ONE-FOURTH TO I/VILLIAM A. LORENZ, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

JAR-sEALlNe. APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 789,692, dated May 9, 1905.

Application filed, September 9, 1901. Serial No. 74,722.

To all whom t may concern:v

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. HoNIss, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hart- 4 5 ford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Jar- Sealing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for exhausting and hermetically sealing jars, cans, and similar receptacles, and particularly relates to that class of apparatus in which the seal is made automatically by the readmitted atmospheric pressure after the de- I5 sired vacuum is obtained.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan view of the uppermost apparatus of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a side view, in vertical section, of an exhausting-receiver containing two tiers of apparatus embodying my improvements. Fig. 3 is a side view, and Fig. A an end view, of the jar-presser shown in Fig. l and shown in the upper apparatus of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional View showing a modified arrangement of the packing employed between the presser and the wall of the jar-receptacle.

Fig. 6 is also a fragmentary sectional view showing another method of making the packing-joint. f

The hermetic closures of these vacuum-jars of the type herein shown usually consist of a cap or cover having an inclined or tapering flange which fits upon either the inside or the outside of the neck of the jar, the closures 3 5 being sealed by means of an annular gasket,

of rubber or similar material, which encircles the mouth of the jar and against which the tapering or fiaring flange of the cover is firmly held by atmospheric pressure after a suitable vacuum has been obtained'in the jar.

In order to obtain the best results and to preserve with certainty whatever degree of vacuum which may be obtained within the jar, the closure-covers thereof should be maintained in a level position and be forced down far enough to compress the gaskets entirely around the annular joint before readmitting the atmospheric pressure; otherwise that pressure is liable to enter the jar, and thus destroy the vacuum or at least diminish it to 5o an uncertain extent, because of various irregularities of form or contour almost inseparable from the commercial manufacture of the jars and covers and gaskets, so that in order to obtain reliable and uniform sealing some extraneous means must be provided for forcing the cover down at least far enough to securely close its joint all around before readmitting the atmospheric pressure to the eX- terior side of the joint. For this purpose va- 6o rious mechanical appliances have been devised, most of which are complicated and expensive and require to be operated from the exterior of the vacuum-receiver. Moreover, most of these mechanical appliances do not permit of the jars being stacked up one above the other, so as to utilize to best advantage the space within the exhausting-receivers, as in the case of the present type of apparatus. Furthermore, even though the jars, covers, 7o and gaskets should be approximately circular and uniform it is obviously desirable, especially in the sealing of jars of the type herein shown having a tapering neck and a flaring cover, to provide for maintaining an approxi- 7 5 mately level position of the cover during the exhausting operation; otherwise it is liable to become tilted, thereby presenting an elliptical line of contact to the circular contact-line of the gasket, and thus impairing the complete- 8O ness and security of the seal. For these reasons it is desirable for the reliable sealing both of perfectly and imperfectly formed jars .to maintain the covers in a level position while pressing them down, and in the case of 8 5 imperfectly-formed jars it is additionally and particularly desirable to temporarily exclude the air from the exterior of the joints until after the covers have been pressed down at least far enough to close all possible openings around those joints.

The object of this invention is to provide .posed between the jars and the readmitted airpressure, filling the passage which that pressure must take to reach the jars practically air-tight, so as to prevent the air from reaching the closure-joints, while transmitting' the unimpaired force of its impact to'effect the sealing of those joints. The area l of this presser is considerably greater than that of the cover or covers upon which it operates, and as the force of the readmitted pressure is proportional to the area on which it acts the force received and transmitted by the ypresser is correspondingly greater than it would be if it acted directly upon the smaller area of the cover or covers without the interposition of the presser.

The body portion of the presser which comes lin contact with the jar cover or covers is made substantially inflexible and preferably extends over and operates upon a plurality of covers at the same time, which then react upon the presser as it rests upon or is fprced against them to sustain it in an approximately right-angular relation to the axes of the jars, the presser in turn by reason of its iniexibility leveling theY tops of the covers to its own plane.

For greater certainty in making an air-tight joint between the edges of the presser and the encompassing walls of the passage or receptacle within which it operates the inflexible body portion of the presser is preferably provided with a flexible or elastic packing, which accommodates itself to irregularities in those walls due to the character of the surface or due to the deliectionof the walls by the pressures to which they may be subjected both during the exhausting operation and upon the subsequent readmission of atmospheric pressure.

1n the embodiment of my invention shown herein these pressers are employed in connection with jar-receptacles 6 or 21 of a size adapted to contain an easily-handled number of jars J, so that they can be readily lifted into and out of the receiver R of the apparatus and be stacked up therein, as shown in Fig. 2. Six or twelve jars of the ordinary size are found to be a convenient number for each receptacle both for ease of handling and of accounting, especially where the jars are tallied by the dozen or gross.

The body or infiexible portion of the presser 10 preferably extends well out beyond the walls of the jar-receptacle, as best shown in Fig. 2, thereby presenting an extended area to be acted upon by the readmitted air-pressure. The joint between the edges of the plate 10 and the inner walls of the jar-receptacle 6 is closed by means of the packing-strips 1l, seated in a corresponding groove extending around the edge of the plate. These strips are pressed outwardly against the receptaclewalls by means of springs l2. The outer edges of these strips are preferably1 provided with facings 13,' of rubber or similar material, to make a more perfect joint against the wallsof the receptacle. The strips are lapped at their corners, as best shown in Figs. 3 and 4C, preferably without being fastened together, being thereby left free to expand independently of each other. Any suitable stops, such as the pins 14, are employed for preventing the strips from being forced out of their respective grooves by the springs when the presser is removed from the receptacle, the holes in the strips through which the pins pass being slotted or enlarged sufiiciently to allow of the slight expanding movement of the strips.

In the modified presser 2O (shown in connection with the vlower receptacle 2l of Fig. 2) the temporary joint is made by means of a marginal strip 22, of rubber or similar iiexible material, attached around the marginal side of the presser. The strip is preferably made somewhat full, so that its edges are crowded upwardly by the walls of the receiver, or else the strip is molded to that form, so that it serves after the manner of a cupped packing, being pressed outwardly against the side of the receptacle by the readmitted pressure tomake the temporary joint more secure.

A further modification is shown in Fig. 5, in which the packing strip or gasket 27 is also attached to the side of the presser 26. The wall of the receptacle 28 is recessed to form a shoulder 29, which extends beneath the gasket-strip 27. 1n this case the operation of the readmitted air is to press the gasketdown upon the shoulder, thereby lending additional security for the temporary exclusion of the air from the receptacle.

In the modified arrangement shown in Fig. 6 the packing instrumentality is a thin strip 3i, also of relatively iiexible material, preferably rubber, and is fastened along the inner wall of the receptacle 32 at a suitable height for bearing against the edge of the presser 33 when the latter is in its operative position: rlhe action of the readmitted atmospheric pressure is also to press the packing strip or gasket closely against the edge of the presser, thereby making the temporary joint additionally secure. Y

The pressers 20 and 26 are shown to be relatively thinner than the presser lO, it being understood that the thinner pressers may be made of sheet metal, whereas the thicker IOO one upon another in the exhausting-receiver,

as shown in Fig. 2, means should be provided for permitting the readmitted atmospheric pressure to freely enter the top of each receptacle and act upon the pressers. To this end the bottoms of the receptacles may be provided with feet 19, like those of the receptacle 6, between which the readmitted air may pass to enter the receptacle beneath it, or they may be provided with inlet-ducts 24, like those of the receptacle 21.

The mode of operation of this apparatus is as follows: The receptacles are filled with the appropriate number of jars, having their gaskets and covers C in position. The pressers are then placed upon the covers and the receptacles are stacked'up in the receiver R, which has an outlet or exhaust pipe O and an inletvalve I. During the exhausting operation the air from the interior of the jars passes freely out between the covers and their gaskets and through the outlet-aperture 17, the return check-valve 18 lifting readily at a very slight pressure. When the desired vacuum has been produced, the full atmospheric pressure is readmitted through the inlet-valve I and operates to hold the valve 18 closed and prevent readmission of air through the outlet 17. The vacuum within the receptacles and within the jars being thus temporarily maintained, the readmitted air-pressure is exerted to its full extent upon the entire surface of the presser, thus forcing it downwardly and carrying the covers with it to their sealing positions. The substantially inflexible character of the presser preserves it from being buckled between the covers by the pressure and from other local deiiections, due to the varying resistances of the different covers or due to the varying resistance of different portions of the same cover.

This type of presser, whether operating upon a jar or a plurality of jars, presents an area to the action of the readmitted pressure considerably larger than that of the single cover in one case or than the aggregated areas of the plurality of covers in the other case,fthereby making the initial pressure upon each individual cover considerably greater than it would be withouta the presser. For example, the

combined area of twelve covers, each three lnches 1n dlameter, is about eighty-four square inches, whereas a diaphragm-presser, which to be suitable for those twelve jars should be about eleven by fourteen inches, is about one hundred and fty-four square inches in area and would therefore under a readmitted pressure of fourteen pounds per squareinch receive a total pressure of two thousand one hundred and fifty-six pounds orabout one hundred and eighty pounds for each cover as against ninety-eight pounds that would be exerted upon each cover without the presser.

The body portions of these pressers should be sufhciently inflexible to prevent the readmitted pressure from depressing those portions of the presser which span the intervals between the covers far enough to tilt an unevenly-supported cover to any appreciable extent, the adaptability of this presser for the reliable leveling of the covers being largely due to its capacity to withstand the tendency of the readmitted pressure to cause pronounced local de 'liections or depressions at the unsupported or less supported portions of the presser. This approximately inflexible character of the presser does not preclude it from being employed for the sealing of those commercial jars which for the reasons hereinbefore indicated often permit and require the covers of adjacent jars to be forced down to varying heights when finally and securely sealed. It is not necessary to successful sealing with this improvedapparatus that the presser itself should force or follow each individual cover down to its lowest ultimate positions. It is only necessary that the presser shall push each cover down far enough to close all portions of its gasket-joint against the readmission of the air, after which the readmitted atmospheric pressure will take full effect upon the tops of the different covers independently of the plate and force each one down to its appropriate position.

During the exhausting operation the pressers may be allowed to rest in contact with the tops of the covers, the desired degree of pressure during that operation being obtained by increasing or diminishing the weight of the presser, or the presser may, if desired, be supported byits edges, so as to clear the tops of the covers, thus serving to prevent them from becoming tilted without resting upon them during the exhausting operation. The presser 10 of Fig. 2 may thus be supported by a suitable tension of the springs 12 pressing the contact-strips outwardly against the walls of the receiver, and the presser 26 of Fig. 5 may be supported upon the shoulders 28 by making the latter of a suitable height with relation to the tops of the jars. In various other ways the respective features of this inv,

vention may be modified in form, function, or degree in accordance with the judgment of the operator to suit the various conditions which may arise in practice.

IOO

IIO

IZO

I claim as my inventionh c l. In a jar-sealing apparatus, in combination with the jar-receptacle thereof, a jarpresser having a substantially iniiexible body portion for engaging the covers to level them, and a substantially air-tight packing between the presser and the Walls of the receptacle.

2. In combination with the jar-receptacle of a jar-sealing apparatus, a presser having a substantially inflexible body for engaging the covers to level them, provided on its edges with an elastic packing for the temporary eX- clusion of air from the receptacle.

3. In a jar-sealing apparatus, the combination of a jar-receptacle, a substantially inflexible jar-presser for engaging the covers to level them, provided With a packing for iitting the walls of the receptacle, means for exhausting the air from both sides of the presser, and means for readmitting air-pressure and directing it against the outer side of the presser.

4. In combination With'vacuum-sealing apparatus for jars, means for exhausting and readmitting the air, a presser having an area substantially greater than that of the covers to be sealed, interposed -between the covers and the path of the readmitted air-pressure, for transmitting lthe impact of that pressure to seal the closure-joints of the jars, the presser having a substantially iniexible body for leveling the covers, provided With a iiexible edge for making a substantially air tight joint With its encompassing Walls.

Signed at Hartford, Connecticut, this 6th day of September, 1901.

WM. H.v HONISS.,

Witnesses:

H. MALLNER, NELLIE PHOENIX. 

